The study used "gene scissors" to deal with antibiotic resistance

the resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics has become an increasingly serious global public health problem. U.S. researchers recently reported that they have used "gene scissors" to develop a new system that can identify genes that specific antibiotics can target to pathogenic bacteria, promising to be used to improve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics or to develop new ones.
CRISPR gene editing technology, known as "gene scissors," can pinpoint and cut off gene site points in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), shutting down a gene or introducing new gene fragments.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and others recently reported in the British journal Nature Microbiology that CRISPRi is a weakened version of "gene scissors" that do not cut off the DNA chain but can be attached to a location in the DNA to prevent gene transcription of protein molecules from approaching in order to reduce gene expression and reduce the number of proteins encoded by the gene. The new system they developed, called Mobile CRISPRi, could be used to study different strains.
researchers found that when the gene-editing technique was used to reduce the amount of protein that was "targeted" by an antibiotic, bacteria became more sensitive to the antibiotic, demonstrating a link between specific antibiotics and certain genes. In this way, researchers can screen thousands of genes that could potentially be potential targets for antibiotics at a time, helping scientists understand how antibiotics work and improve drug effectiveness.
researchers used "mobile CRISPRi" to study vibrio cheese isolated from the skin of the cheese to find out how the bacteria congealed on the cheese and affected the flavor. "Mobile CRISPRi" could be used to study any number of pathogenic or beneficial bacteria that scientists previously did not know about, the researchers said. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)